(Black PR Wire) Black Maternal Health Week (BMHW), held on April 11-27, is a week-long campaign led by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance​ to build awareness, activism, and community-building​ to amplify ​the voices, perspectives, and lived experiences of Black Mamas and birthing people.

This year’s theme, Our Bodies Belong to Us: Restoring Black Autonomy and Joy, speaks to women’s strength, power, and resilience, and their unassailable right to live freely, safely, and joyfully.

According to the CDC, in 2020 the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 3 times higher than white women in the U.S. Multiple factors contribute to these disparities, such as lower quality healthcare, structural racism, implicit bias from healthcare providers, and underlying chronic conditions.

Improving maternal health and reducing the disparities in maternal health outcomes is a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration. In 2022, a dozen federal agencies mobilized to develop and release the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis. This Blueprint outlines specific actions that the federal government is taking to improve maternal health across five priorities, ranging from increasing access to and coverage of high-quality maternal health services to expanding and diversifying the perinatal workforce.

To support the week-long observance, join the BMHW Twitter Chat on April 11 at 12:00 p.m. ET using the hashtag #BMHW23, and download the 2023 Social Media Toolkit for key messaging, events, shareable social media messages, graphics, and other materials.

Source: Office of Minority Health